Category Archives: My Kit Kat Obsession

Since my obsession with Japanese Kit Kats began there is one I have been desperate to try- Wasabi flavour.

It pretty much sums up why I love these things. Strong, unusual flavours that in no way go with chocolate. For me the more bizarre the better and this one seemed pretty strange. The fact that it took me so long to get hold of only made me want it more.

I was actually a little disappointed to find that it was actually very nice. In contrast to the kicky taste I’m used to with its slow rising burn, the wasabi was very subtle and actually complimented the sweetness of the chocolate.

I know I should be pleased that it was edible but it’s just left me searching for a new flavour that is more extreme. The hunt continues…

Like this:

Something else I’ve learned about Japanese Kit Kats is they tend to repeat flavours but with a slight variation. As far as I can see they have done this with the Adult Sweetness editions. The range is aimed at an adult palette and so isn’t as sweet as other Kit Kats. My source this time was Ebay and I tried Passion Fruit (Adult Sweetness), Green Tea (Adult Sweetness) and Shinshu Apple.

Passion Fruit (Adult Sweetness)

This one is very sweet. So much for adult sweetness! I think I would feel quite sick if it was any sweeter. It has a strong flavour coming from the creme in between the layers of wafer. It’s yellow in colour and I think it’s white chocolate but I can’t be sure.

Matcha Green Tea (Adult Sweetness)

I’ve written about Matcha Green Tea flavour already. This Adult Sweetness version was worse if anything. At least the sweetness of the last one was masked a bit by the sugar. Yuck!

Shinshu Apple

After the green tea Kit Kat this one was very refreshing. It has a mild apple flavour which goes well with the milk chocolate. Definitely the best of the three.

A friend of ours has just returned from a business trip to Japan and look what he kindly sent us. To me this is very exciting. My first multi pack of Japanese Kit Kats and it’s Matcha Green Tea flavour. How very Japanese! Unfortunately it is quite revolting…

Green in colour, you can smell the tea as you unwrap it. I thought I would love it but I couldn’t finish it. It is truly disgusting! I would describe it as musty with a fishy quality. The flavour really doesn’t go with chocolate. Imagine dunking your chocolate hob nob in green tea. Not the best flavour combination. It tastes like feet!

Like this:

I am totally overwhelmed by the endless list of Japanese Kit Kat flavours so it was quite hard to know where to start. I quickly found that despite there being hundreds, some are easier to get hold of in the UK than others with the rarest fetching a princely sum. I decided to start at the cheaper end of the scale for my first sample.

I’m glad I did because what I didn’t realise until they arrived is that Japanese Kit Kats are significantly smaller than the ones we are used to over here. They have two fingers and are about half the length of ours so really quite tiny.

Anyway, here’s what I tried…

Cinnamon Roll

This one is really nice. A good choice to ease myself in because it is a pleasant familiar flavour. The cinnamon is really strong and it has crunchy bits in the chocolate representing the ‘roll’.

Purple Sweet Potato

I was expecting this to taste like sweet potato as we know it but apparently a purple sweet potato is sweeter and fruitier than our orange variety (I have never tried one so I have no frame of reference). It is native to Okinawa island and is therefore a regional limited edition. Exciting!

It is certainly very sweet and has a fruity flavour not unlike plum. It’s nice but I can’t tell you whether it tastes like a purple sweet potato having never tried one.

Amaou Strawberry

There are lots of strawberry varieties. This one is quite subtle mixed with white chocolate. It’s incredibly sweet but the flavour fades quickly and is quite forgettable.

In honour of my new quest I have been doing some research into the Japanese Kit Kat market and it has only made me more determined to try as many of them as I can. With flavours like European Cheese flavour who could resist?

I have discovered that on average a new kit kat flavour is released every 6 weeks in Japan! Most of them don’t stick around for long and many of them are regional varieties only found in a small number of places. This has made Kit Kat collecting in Japan more common place than I had imagined because even over there, they are not all widely available to get hold of. I have scoured many blogs and found stories of people taking special trips across Japan to find new varieties only found in a very remote regions. In fact, as most flavours are only sold for a small amount of time, Kit Kats in Japan are a collectors dream.

So why are there so many Kit Kats in Japan? Well, Japan has an ever-changing confectionary market. It is how brands survive out there but British companies have struggled to get into the shops. Coincidently, Kit Kat is very similar to the Japanese word ‘Kitto Katsu’ which is loosely translated as ‘Surely win’. As a result, Kit Kats have become a gift of choice for the people of Japan as a good luck present, especially for young people taking exams.

I realise the fact that I don’t live in Japan is going to make this challenge tricky but that’s part of the fun. I have found some websites that sell Japanese Kit Kats, although for a premium price and eBay has an unexpected amount of sellers too. With the postage costs from Japan though, these Kit Kats are going to be quite pricey so I will have to try not to get carried away.

Every so often, something comes along that really excites me and I start developing a bit of an obsession. It doesn’t happen a lot but when it does, I’m unstoppable and get really involved with my new passion. I’m the same with food but I don’t think I’ve got so excited about a range of food products for a long time.

It’s not a new discovery, they have been around for a long time but I have only just delved into the world of what is essentially a huge craze amongst similar food geeks. I’m taking about the crazy selection of Japanese Kit Kats! From the relatively dull to the completely insane! Would you believe there are such flavours as Soy Sauce (currently the most popular variety in Japan), Green Tea, Sweet Potato, Water Melon and Salt just to name a few.

Unbeknown to me, there is already a crazy underground world of Kit Kat collectors. Food bloggers, food geeks and the simply insane all over the world are after these treasures and have been known to pay upwards of £200 per bar for those more difficult to get hold of.

I have decided to join the madness and make it my mission to try as many Japanese Kit Kat flavours as I can.

If you love a geeky foodie project as much as me, you might be interested in my progress so I will post my finds and thoughts on here. In the meantime, if you are able to offer any help by way of where I can get my hands on some of the more unusual offerings I will be most grateful.

Now, I’ve sacrificed my lunch break to write this and it’s made me hungry so I best go and buy myself a kit kat!